People </3 OCZ Vertex 3?

[Tooterfish]

I always hear amazing reviews about this SSD from tech writers, but when it comes to user reviews, more than half the input seems to be very negative. Apparently these drives, as fast as they are, have a reputation for failing and doing so fairly early in their life spans. Has anybody been using these drives for an extended period of time as a boot drive? I had considered buying one to install my OS on, but now I'm second guessing my option. Reason I'm asking is I know many people only review products through Newegg or Amazon as a means of complaining when something does happen. I'm hoping the happy people just haven't been motivated to post anything good about it.

 

[TypeRazor]

just get a intel/crucial/samsung unless you like to really gamble your data

 

[faugusztin]

All Sandforce SSDs do random BSOD and freezes, no one yet come up with a final solution (with all i mean all models, it doesn't have to be your piece if you buy one, maybe you will be lucky and it will work just fine). Intel 320 series have the 8MB bug. Marvell (Intel 510, C300, m4) have problems with LPM enabled.

For now, your best bet is either buy a older generation SSD (SandForce 1xxx, X25-M G2, Indiliinx) or one of the Marvell controller ones and turn of LPM if you can.

 

[ob1]

Never had a problem with mine, not even a blue screen like the above poster states that all of them have. I had some small pause issues with the shipping firmware, but it was hardly a problem, and a firmware update fixed it quickly. I use mine as a boot drive and again, it has worked fine, and is as fast today as it was when I opened the box...

 

[faugusztin]

Never had a problem with mine, not even a blue screen like the above poster states that all of them have.

Corsair - http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=96333
The whole OCZ Sandforce 2xxx forum : http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...-Agility3-Solid3-support-and-discussion-forum
Someone right here on forums having problem with Kingston Hyperx Sandforce SSD : http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1037609897&postcount=7

Even the guy at Anandtech managed to have this issue :
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4604/...air-patriot-ocz-owc-memoright-ssds-compared/2

No one knows what is the source of the issue, but it is here and it is present with all Sandforce 2xxx SSDs from all brands. It can be a incompatibility with some boards, some power supplies, some BIOS settings - no one knows yet. But all Sandforce 2xxx have this issue - it is just in your case you have a setup which doesn't trigger the bug.

Your statement is like saying "i don't have probelms with my VIA SATA controller with my SATA drive", when you had only SATA1 drives, but the bug was with SATA2 drives incompatibility. Same things is happening now with Sandforce 2xxx - there is a bug, just no one knows what triggers it.

 

[ghost6303]

All Sandforce SSDs do random BSOD and freezes,

blanket statements like this are dangerous to make. my sandforce based SSD systems have never once BSOD' or frozen. that statement is completely false.

 

[faugusztin]

blanket statements like this are dangerous to make. my sandforce based SSD systems have never once BSOD' or frozen. that statement is completely false.

Reread again my later explanation. Hell, just reread what problems the guy at Anandtech had. Sandforce SSD + one board + one PSU -> BSOD. Different board or different PSU, no problems.

The fact that bug was not triggered in your case (and many other cases) doesn't mean it doesn't exists.

How else can you explain then that the bug is present through the all manufacturers of Sandforce 2xxx based SSD drives, through async and sync flash models, ... Once again - there is something fishy with the Sandforce controller, or Sandforce reference design (if there is any), or Sandforce compatibility with some boards or power supplies - but the fact that it affects all Sandforce 2xxx products from all manufacturers means, that the bug is present in all SSDs with this controller.

Do you remember the Seagate 7200.11 self-bricking feature ? All drives had the bug, yet not all of them bricked itself.

 

[DemonDiablo]

It was still a blanket statement. You said "All" that right there right off the bat makes your statement inaccurate.

Is there an issue? Sure, I dont think anyone will argue that. Does everyone with a SF chip experience this issue? Nope.

 

[thefreeaccount]

fact that it affects all Sandforce 2xxx products from all manufacturers means, that the bug is present in all SSDs with this controller.

That is either a very biased or non-factual statement. ALL SSDs except intel SSDs have BSOD issues. Searches for "samsung ssd bsod" or "crucial ssd bsod" yield hundreds of thousands of hits, many of them recent.

At the present time it is simply not possible to produce a standards-compliant AHCI hotplug device. This is because SATA link status cannot be updated once an AHCI device goes into partial or full power saving mode. Unlike hard drives, ssds need to continue performing operations during this time in order to perform garbage collection. The most common problems are freezing/mini-pauses in D2 (partial) power saving mode and BSODs in D3 (slumber) mode, but really anything can happen because the interaction between HBA and ssd is undefined.

Do Sandforce SSDs have more problems with BSODs than others? Maybe - I really have no idea. But it's wrong to say that this is a sandforce-specific issue.

 

[faugusztin]

Does everyone with a SF chip experience this issue? Nope.

Fine, if you wish to play with words, then you are right. Not everyone experiences this issue, but every Sandforce 2xxx drive have this bug.

Just go over this thread and find anything common except OS and the SSD itself :
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...Agility3-Solid3-drive-I-want-you-to-post-here . It is there for both AMD and Intel systems, with both NVIDIA and ATI graphic cards, with different brands of controllers and chipsets, in laptops and desktops....

Do you really think your SSD is any different than the SSD for the guy who has BSOD ? If yes, how do you explain the article from Anandtech, where on one board he had problems and same SSD works with another board without any issues.

Maybe the OP will be lucky and he will never hit this issue. Or maybe he won't be lucky and he will be another who will complain... For a item with price around 200€ (120GB model) it is very bad feeling to be the tester, especially if we talk about data.

@thefreeaccount: maybe i'm mistaken, but OP question was about SandForce, specificly about Vertex 3. And if you take a better look, i wrote that C300/m4/i510 have the LPM issue. The problem with SandForce 2xxx that there is no such easy solution like disabling LPM for Marvell based controller. And the Samsung, well... I don't really watch them, the 470's are bit outdated.

 

[Burner27]

All Sandforce SSDs do random BSOD and freezes, no one yet come up with a final solution (with all i mean all models, it doesn't have to be your piece if you buy one, maybe you will be lucky and it will work just fine). Intel 320 series have the 8MB bug. Marvell (Intel 510, C300, m4) have problems with LPM enabled.

For now, your best bet is either buy a older generation SSD (SandForce 1xxx, X25-M G2, Indiliinx) or one of the Marvell controller ones and turn of LPM if you can.

I have 3 x 128GB Crucial C300s and a Crucial M4. LPM is NOT disabled on my machine and I have not had 1 issue with my machine. Guess I am lucky.

 

[jeremyshaw]

I have 3 x 128GB Crucial C300s and a Crucial M4. LPM is NOT disabled on my machine and I have not had 1 issue with my machine. Guess I am lucky.

I didn't have the C300 LPM issue (firmware 006) with my H67 and P67 boards (both ASUS, one mITX, one mATX). However, when I upgraded to a Max4GENE-z (Z68), I had the issue. After boot (resume is fine), I would get a glorious 30sec complete freeze. I updated to the latest firmware (there is one out), and the issue went away.

64GB and 128GB C300 owner here (though I sold off the 64GB unit).

 

[Burner27]

I didn't have the C300 LPM issue (firmware 006) with my H67 and P67 boards (both ASUS, one mITX, one mATX). However, when I upgraded to a Max4GENE-z (Z68), I had the issue. After boot (resume is fine), I would get a glorious 30sec complete freeze. I updated to the latest firmware (there is one out), and the issue went away.

64GB and 128GB C300 owner here (though I sold off the 64GB unit).

You upgraded to the 0007 FW? I have 2 of my C300s still on FW 0006 and the last one I got came preinstalled with 0007.

 

[Abula]

Wait for the new Samsung PM830s, if they are as good as the 470s were in sata II, they will be the best Sata III drives. Either samsung or the upcoming intel 520s will be the drive to get.